Redesigning an office can be a great morale booster for the entire team. Unfortunately, it's a lot of work, so it is often delayed until it's absolutely necessary. However, there are several smaller changes you can make to refresh a workplace without requiring a major renovation.

Your choice of flooring has a surprising visual impact on your office: it covers the entirety of your space and offers a myriad of color and design options. As such, your office carpet provides a fantastic opportunity for a visual refresh without going through a complete redesign. Here are four ways you can enhance the look of your office by making small changes on the floor plane.

1) Focus on High-Traffic, High-Impact Areas

Your office will receive 80% of its foot traffic in just 20% of the space. The lobby entrance is likely to be the most used area and the one place that everyone - employees and visitors alike - will see. Focus your attention here to make a small change with a noticeable impact.

Replacing the flooring in just one area of your office will be much simpler than replacing the floor covering throughout your office at once - and it has the added benefit of being much less expensive. You can also integrate pops of energetic color and pattern in strategic ways. By focusing bright colors and patterns in the lobby or reception space, you maximize the visual impact it will have on visitors, as it will be the first thing they notice on arrival.

2) Reuse or Repurpose

Different areas within offices experience varying levels of foot traffic, and as such, the carpets will wear at different rates. If you've selected a good-quality, durable carpet, and particularly, if you've installed adhesive-free modular carpet or used pressure sensitive adhesive, it's easy to relocate carpet in different areas within your office as a simple way to refresh the look of your office space. Doing so also maximizes the life of your carpet.

For example, you could repurpose the carpet from an executive office in a meeting room that has more use, and therefore, the floor covering looks more worn. Milliken's TractionBack adhesive-free carpet can easily be lifted and re-laid multiple times, making it simple to repurpose office flooring in a variety of spaces.

3) Spot-Replace Damaged Carpet

If your commercial carpet is looking worn out in places - particularly, if there are coffee stains or stubborn traces of dirt - then the simplest way to refresh the floor is to spot-replace affected areas.

For broadloom carpet, this can be quite tricky: You'll need to cut out the stained or damaged section, cut a piece of the same size and shape from your attic stock, and then install it. Unfortunately, your new broadloom section won't color-match the existing flooring, so can create an unsightly 'patchwork' effect.

Spot replacement is much simpler for modular carpet: If you installed adhesive-free carpet tiles - such as Milliken's TractionBack - then tiles can be lifted easily. You can then replace a damaged tile with one from your attic stock, which will blend with the original flooring.

4) Add Accent Tiles

One of the simplest ways to give your office flooring a new look - without undertaking a large-scale renovation - is to incorporate accent carpet tiles.

By switching out a handful of existing carpet tiles for new ones in a different color or pattern, you can dramatically change the look and feel of your office without the expense or workload associated with a complete redesign.